Saturday, July 26, 2014

I'm happy to say that after being a stash-piggy in June, I behaved myself in July and didn't spend a penny! :)

I kind of feel like it was too easy not to spend XS money in July because we've been so busy with family visits and just the general busy, busy, busy that summer brings. It's more fun to spend time outside than inside.

I've been trying to stitch on the wolf every chance I get to put thread to fabric. It's coming along nicely. I'll post an update soon. I haven't had any time to work to work on my "Cookies-Dark Side" project that I 'm making for my son's "man cave" in his new home.

I'm glad my XS budget is back on track and that I have the stitch from stash group to keep me on target. It's helped me to distinguish between wants and needs.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

This is the latest and greatest wolf up-date. I am enjoying watching the wolf and his buddies come to life. This is from a kit (and generally, I'm not much of a kit kind-of-girl). I'm learning all over again why I'm not a kit fan. One of the floss colors used with the "sky" in this design is a VERY, VERY, VERY pale blue. (Did I mention how pale the blue was?) So pale, in fact...that it is hardly even noticeable in the design. I didn't notice how un-noticeable it was until I stepped away to look at it. In hindsight, I wish I would've picked up on this sooner. I would've subbed my own choice of a pale blue thread that would've been seen, but subtle. I still love the project and look forward to stitching it every chance I get. I have one page completely finished at this point and a good start on the other pages. There's still much stitching to go until I finish, but I'm plugging along and happy with it. :)

So, I've hit what I call my "mid-life crisis" stitching-wise. (And thank you to my "precious" husband for pointing out that I'm only of a "mid-life" age if I intend on living 100+ years. He thinks I'm just a wee bit past "mid-life") *Bless his heart*...those of you in the south know that *bless his heart* has multiple meanings....LOL.

Anyway, I have found that with age comes wrinkles, flabby arms (when the heck did those set in???)
and reading glasses. For me, it also has changed a lot of my tastes in what I choose to stitch. I find that these days, I'm enjoying crawling out of my stitching "comfort zone" and trying new things.
I seem drawn to bigger projects (think samplers) and anything with a Quaker theme. I've found Rosewood Manner, Blackbird Designs, Chatelaines and the Scarlet Thread to be appealing to me now. I still find Country Cottage, Little House, Lizzie Kate and a couple other "new to me" designers to be fun and delightful, (and I will stitch them with joy for my "on the go" projects, But for some reason, my taste is changing. I'm even determined to tackle a HAED project someday. Once the wolf is finished and my "Dark Side...Cookies" project for another son is finished, I'm going to see where this new direction in stitching takes me. (Oh and I intend to work on these flabby arms too!)